


beg you to fall

by parcequelle



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017)
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s01e01-02 Selection Day, F/F, Yuletide 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:48:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21902530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parcequelle/pseuds/parcequelle
Summary: When it came down to it, Ada was just a silly, lonely old woman who spent far too much time and energy dreaming of an unlikely affair with her dearest friend. [Post-'Selection Day'.]
Relationships: Ada Cackle/Hecate Hardbroom
Comments: 22
Kudos: 87
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	beg you to fall

**Author's Note:**

  * For [etoilecourageuse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/etoilecourageuse/gifts).



> Happy Yuletide, etoilecourageuse! Enjoy!

For the fifth time in as many minutes, Hecate looked up from her enrolment ledger and said, ‘Are you certain you wouldn’t like a fresh cup of tea?’

Ada, comfortably tucked under a blanket by the fire, her feet suspended on a plush ottoman that hadn’t been there yesterday, could only smile indulgently and shake her head. She was still going on the last cup Hecate had pressed into her hands – careful fingers less steady than usual, lingering longer on Ada’s than they usually dared – and it wasn’t as though Ada couldn’t have fetched the tea herself. She’d only spent a few minutes as a snail, after all.

Hecate wasn’t taking it quite so lightly. ‘Very well,’ she said, and returned to her work with a poor facsimile of concentration, as though Ada hadn’t noticed the dear thing had been glancing over at her every twenty seconds like clockwork. Hecate was always quiet, but she had been quieter and more subdued than ever after the events of that afternoon; she had hovered by Ada’s side from the moment Agatha was marched off the grounds to the moment the last girl had flown home. The other teachers had stayed around for a cup of tea and shortbread and a debrief about Agatha – Miss Drill thought the punishment fair; Miss Gullet thought it too harsh; Hecate hadn’t said a word either way – but one by one they had transferred out, bidding Hecate and Ada well until the six weeks of summer were over, eventually leaving them alone. Hecate hadn’t let Ada out of her sight since. At this rate, they would go to sleep together, too.

Ada shifted in her armchair and quieted the thought; it wouldn’t do to start all that up again. Hecate cared for her, that much was clear, but it wasn’t… it couldn’t be anything more than what it was. Hecate didn’t care for her like that. She wasn’t sure Hecate cared for _anyone_ like that. She had certainly never mentioned it, or alluded to it, or acted like it. Quite right it was, too; when it came down to it, Ada was just a silly, lonely old woman who spent far too much time and energy dreaming of an unlikely affair with her dearest friend.

She was grateful to have Hecate in her life, and that was that.

When she looked up again, Hecate had abandoned the enrolment ledger and was paging through an enormous old book she had summoned from Ada’s bookshelf. As though sensing Ada’s eyes on her, she looked up and asked, ‘How are your extremities? Have you experienced any numbness in your fingers or toes?’

Ada raised her eyebrows but obediently wiggled. ‘No numbness.’

‘Do you have a headache? Or have you had one in the past few hours?’

‘I had a slight one earlier,’ Ada admitted, ‘but it wasn’t anything one of your perfect cups of tea couldn’t cure.’

‘Good,’ Hecate said, then registered the praise and frowned. ‘Well,’ she said, briskly, ‘tea-brewing is hardly an art form.’

Ada took a pointed sip and smacked her lips. ‘That’s a load of nonsense, Hecate, and you very well know it.’

Hecate blushed. Ada did her best to press her smirk back into an innocent smile, though Hecate’s raised eyebrow seemed to indicate that she’d failed.

‘Will you ever learn to take a compliment, my dear?’

Hecate shifted in her seat. ‘Ada,’ she murmured. It was half admonishment, half plea for mercy. 

Ada ignored both. ‘I mean it,’ she said. She leant forward, catching Hecate’s darting eyes with her own. ‘You are worthy of praise, and I would like to be able to give it you without you twitching like a bat in sunlight.’

Hecate made an unimpressed face and closed the book in front of her, nails long and dark against its soft cover. ‘Must you?’ she asked desperately. ‘Of all days to insist on awarding me undue praise, Ada… must you do it today, when I utterly failed to help you when you most needed it?’

That made Ada stop. She set her cup aside and pushed herself up, walked over to where Hecate was sitting, stiff and miserable, behind her desk. She wouldn’t make eye-contact, so Ada kept walking until she was leaning beside her. ‘Hecate, look at me.’

Hecate did, reluctance all over her face; her mouth was pinched, and her sharp cheekbones were flushed high with colour. 

‘You didn’t fail me,’ Ada said firmly. ‘You _saved_ me.’

‘ _Mildred Hubble_ saved you. I stood by and watched as your sister tried to take over the school.’

‘Stop that,’ Ada said, and it was as near as she’d ever come to snapping, at least at Hecate. ‘I’ve had enough of your self-pity, do you hear? You were clever enough to pretend to go along with Agatha’s plan to find out what she was doing. You were the one to communicate to Mildred that it was within her power to assist me.’ 

Hecate frowned. ‘How do you—’

‘—Mildred told me,’ Ada interrupted gently, and Hecate scowled and muttered something uncharitable under her breath. ‘You might not have been able to prevent the duel, Hecate, but you were instrumental in ensuring that Agatha didn’t retain control. Without you, Mildred might never have realised she could do something, and things might have turned out very differently indeed.’

Hecate held her gaze for a long, tense moment, and then lowered her shoulders a fraction. Coming from Hecate, it was practically a slump of defeat, and Ada felt herself begin to smile. ‘You’re too good to me, Ada,’ Hecate murmured. She flicked her eyes up at Ada and back down again, and then, shyly, reached over to fold one of Ada’s hands into hers. Her fingers were long and strong and soft, so elegant against Ada’s own, and it was all Ada could do not to gasp. Beyond the occasional handshake and pat on the back, this was the most they had ever touched one another; Ada had never dared risk her inappropriate feelings rushing over Hecate, consuming her, like a king tide.

‘I’m not,’ Ada told her. ‘I’m exactly as good to you as you deserve.’ Carefully, barely breathing, she interlaced their fingers and squeezed Hecate’s hand. She was biting her lip when Hecate looked up, and when Hecate squeezed back, Ada nearly swallowed her tongue. ‘It’s you who is far too good to me. Putting up with my… silliness. My whims.’ She tried to chuckle, but her mouth was dry.

Hecate watched her, her dark gaze intent and so very warm, and then she slowly brought Ada’s hand to her mouth and kissed her knuckles. When Ada didn’t protest, didn’t make any move to stop her, she did it again; kissed each knuckle in turn, then the base of her thumb, then her wrist. At that, Ada finally did make a small, embarrassing sound – she couldn’t help it. She had to be dreaming. Surely this couldn’t be happening; surely Hecate Hardbroom couldn’t want her?

‘I will gladly indulge every one of your silly whims, Ada Cackle, as long as you’ll have me.’

‘I—’ Ada managed. Her hand was still cradled in Hecate’s, and it seemed her brain had fled out that point of contact. Forming sentences was a nigh-impossible feat. ‘I – yes.’

Yes, Ada would have her. Yes, Ada would keep her. Yes, Ada would do anything she could to ensure that Hecate never left her side.

Hecate looked up, hope flaring bright in those lovely eyes. ‘Yes?’ she asked.

When Ada smiled, Hecate smiled back like the sun. ‘ _Yes_.’


End file.
